EU vows to uphold nuclear agreement

European Union foreign ministers vowed on Friday to preserve the Iran nuclear deal by ignoring United States President Donald Trump's latest call for them to quit the landmark 2015 agreement.

The US imposed new sanctions on Iran on Friday, targeting multiple sectors of its economy. The move was to punish Iran for its missile strikes at the US military bases in Iraq in revenge for the US assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani on Jan 3.

The Iran deal, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action known as the JCPOA, has come under great pressure after Trump pulled the US out of the deal in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on Iran.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Friday that the EU is committed to preserving the JCPOA. "Without the JCPOA, Iran would be a nuclear power today," he told a news conference after a meeting with the foreign ministers, where they discussed the situation in Iran, Iraq and Libya.

Borrell emphasized the priority for "de-escalation" and said "it is in our interest" to preserve the JCPOA "as far as we can". He added that the EU has a "completely different" position from the US on JCPOA.

"We have been saying in the past and we continue saying that we regret the US decision to withdraw from the deal. We continue believing that this deal is a key element of the global nuclear non-proliferation architecture and critical for the regional stability.

"To negotiate a new agreement is a very complex, highly technical process which takes a long time," Borrell said, adding that the current deal is very solid from the technical point of view.

Trump, in his address to the US public on Wednesday, called on Germany, France, the UK, China and Russia, the other parties to the JCPOA, to break away from the remnants of the deal.

Iran has been gradually abandoning the deal's limitation on its uranium enrichment for nuclear fuel. And following the US killing of Soleimani, Iran said it was dropping all the limitations under the deal.

Iranian leaders complained that while Iran had fully complied with the JCPOA, other partners had not kept their commitment, especially its vital oil trade threatened by renewed US sanctions.

EU foreign ministers on Friday also urged Iran to go back to full compliance to the JCPOA, and said they rely on the International Atomic Energy Agency to continue monitoring and verifying Iran's nuclear activities.

Germany, France and the UK have developed a special purpose vehicle known as the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchange, to allow normal business transactions with Iran. Belgium, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden said earlier that they would also join INSTEX.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said earlier that US' withdrawal from the JCPOA and its maximum pressure campaign is the "root cause" of the current tensions.

China would "make tireless efforts" and stay in close contact with relevant parties to firmly uphold the JCPOA, he said.